SHENYANG, May 30 (Xinhua) -- In a few years, the central area of Liaoning Province, northeast China, will receive an additional 1.8 billion cubic meters of water annually for local people and for agricultural and industrial production.

    Construction of a 85.3-km-long tunnel, said to be the longest tunnel in the world, is proceeding smoothly and is expected to be completed at the end of 2008. It will cost 5.2 billion yuan (about650 million U.S. dollars).

    Approximately 10 million people in central Liaoning Province will benefit from the water diversion tunnel, which starts at the Huanren Manchu Autonomous County in eastern Liaoning and ends at Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County in the west.

    The water diversion tunnel, with a diameter of eight meters, runs more than 50 mountains and some 50 rivers before it reaches the central part of Liaoning, a traditional industrial base of China.

    The region is short of water, with per capita water resources less than 700 cubic meters. According to international standards, regions with per capita water resources of less than 2,000 cubic meters are taken as places with serious water shortage.

    The water tunnel is going to divert water from mountainous areas in eastern Liaoning to the thirsty central part of the province.

    Construction of the project is continuing smoothly as builders are using three boring machines to dig the tunnel, said Zhong Gang, Director of the Liaoning Provincial Water Resources Bureau.

    The water diversion tunnel is longer than the world's longest railway tunnel, which extends for 57.6 kilometers in Switzerland.Enditem